I just went through this fiasco on my 99 in December. Slow crank, burning smell..
Only two things could be your problem here
1) which I bet is the most likely is your battery cables have poor connections. I believe on the 96 you have 3 positive leads and 3 negative.
- check the leads on the positive side going from the battery to starter, power distribution box
- and for the negative side check the all the leads from the block to battery, battery to fender, and then the fire wall to block
2) bad starter
As for your burning smell im going to bet on a bad connection that is getting red hot from poor contact while cranking on on the leads
The problem I had was my negative to block was no good and the pathetic ground strap from the firewall to the head was taking all the load while cranking and that sucker was getting red hot and smoking from some oil on it. I assumed my starter was fried until I had someone look to see what the heck was smoking while i tried to start the heep.
If its the cables go with 5-90s cables, or buy em all at your local parts store and some marine battery terminals for about 50~ But 5-90's cables are top tier for sure.